So much for the opposition. CFO.com reports that by a somewhat
lopsided vote of 95-5, the Senate late Thursday night passed the Pension Protection Act -- a
pension reform bill aimed at making it easier for cash-strapped
airlines to repay their pension funds.
AD NUMBER: 2006-16-03
MANUFACTURER: McDonnell Douglas
SUBJECT: Airworthiness Directive 2006-16-03
SUMMARY: The FAA is adopting a new
airworthiness directive (AD) for certain McDonnell Douglas
airplanes, identified above.
AD NUMBER: 2006-16-02
MANUFACTURER: McDonnell Douglas
SUBJECT: Airworthiness Directive 2006-16-02
SUMMARY: The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive
(AD) for certain McDonnell Douglas Model DC-9-81 (MD-81), DC-9-82
(MD-82), DC-9-83 (MD-83), DC-9-87 (MD-87), and MD-88 airplanes.
AD NUMBER: 2006-16-04
MANUFACTURER: Rolls Royce
SUBJECT: Airworthiness Directive 2006-16-04
SUMMARY: The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness
directive (AD) for RRC 250-B and 250-C series turboshaft and
turboprop engines.
ANN Daily Touch N Go: 08.04.06 (ANN's
Short-Form Daily News Program)
ANN Daily Aero-Briefing: 08.04.06
(ANN's Long-Form Daily News Program)
ANN Special Feature -- One Last Night At TITW:
08.04.06 (ANN Special Feature, with the Thursday, July 27
presentation from EAA's Theater In The Woods.)
Can union members strike against an airline in bankruptcy? That
question will have its day in court... as Northwest Airlines files
suit against the Association of Flight Attendants over the union's
15-day strike notification.
Israeli Aircraft Industries is out of the running in its bid to
build South Korea's next aerial surveillance platform. That leaves
Boeing all alone in the race for a contract worth more than $2
billion.
Regular ANN readers will recognize the name Philippe Patricio. He was the
20-year old flight student accused of stealing a Cessna 172 from
the airport in Danbury, CT in June 2005... then flying drunk for
hours.
This is a story which is becoming depressingly familiar. An
aging Russian-made airliner is down in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, with all 17 people onboard lost... including the three
Russian crew members.
The crew and young passenger aboard a US medevac chopper are
safe, after the helo came under attack from small-arms fire in
Afghanistan's Zabul province August 1 while transporting an injured
two-year-old Afghan girl to medical facilities.
The US Senate is working hard to resolve the ongoing dispute
over how airlines are to repay their pensions before the chamber is
set to recess for the month at the end of this week, according to
news reports.
Astronauts Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter worked so efficiently
together on Thursday's spacewalk outside the International Space
Station that they were actually done 90-minutes ahead of schedule.
Their reward? More work assignments from ground control.
Says P&W, Skydiving Company, Airport Responsible For
Daughter's Death
The National Transportation Safety Board has yet to issue its
preliminary report on last Saturday's accident involving a
skydiving plane near Sullivan, MO... but that doesn't mean the
lawyers are waiting to assign blame.
Aero-News has learned that Raven Industries subsidiary Aerostar
International, Inc, announced this week it will be getting out of
the hot-air balloon business, due to what it terms the "steady
decline" of the hot air balloon industry.
Aero-News learned Thursday that Continental Airlines will
be the first carrier in the Americas -- and the first two-class
carrier -- to operate Boeing's newest and largest-capacity member
of the Next-Generation 737 family, the -900ER.
"I learned that riveting is fun!" So says 10-year-old Chase
who'd just spent 15 minutes constructing a name tag from aluminum
adorned with a set of KidVenture wings.
It's pretty hard to get excited about an oxygen mask -- unless
you fly with one a lot. Most masks are about as comfortable as
they'd be if they were approved by Torquemada rather than the FAA;
Aerox was the first to offer an alternative (the nasal cannula) and
has also offered several generations of masks, including these new
silicon- based masks which are more comfortable than their older
models.
Class of negative-"g", near-zero-airspeed maneuvers invented by the
Czechs, where the gyroscopic precession of the engine and propeller
is used as an additional flight control along with the three usual
ones, aileron, elevator and rudder.
"This crew risked their lives to save this little girl,
and the Taliban response to that was to try to shoot down an
unarmed helicopter. This makes no sense at all."
Source: Army Colonel Michael Rose, Task Force
Falcon and 10th Combat Aviation Brigade commander in Afghanistan,
on an August 1 incident in which a man on the ground opened fire on
a US medevac helicopter transporting a two-year-old girl to the
hospital for burn treatments.
NOTAM Number: FDC 6/5146
Issue Date: August 03, 2006 at 19:33 UTC
Location: Hoodsport, Washington near OLYMPIA VORTAC (OLM)
Beginning Date and Time: Effective Immediately
Ending Date and Time: Until further notice
Reason for NOTAM: To provide a safe environment for fire
fighting
Type: Hazards
Replaced NOTAM(s): N/A
Pilots May Contact: Seattle (ZSE) Center, 253-351-3520
NOTAM Number: FDC 6/5133
Issue Date: August 03, 2006 at 18:45 UTC
Location: Prinville, Oregon near KIMBERLY VORTAC (IMB)
Beginning Date and Time: Effective Immediately
Ending Date and Time: Until further notice
Reason for NOTAM: To provide a safe environment for fire fighting
aircraft operations
Type: Hazards
Replaced NOTAM(s): N/A
Pilots May Contact: Seattle (ZSE) Center, 253-351-3520
NOTAM Number: FDC 6/5127
Issue Date: August 03, 2006 at 17:51 UTC
Location: Willow Run Airport, Ypsilanti, Michigan near DETROIT
VOR/DME (DXO)
Beginning Date and Time: August 04, 2006 at 16:00 UTC
Ending Date and Time: August 06, 2006 at 16:45 UTC
Reason for NOTAM: The Thunder Over Michigan Airshow
Type: Airshow
Replaced NOTAM(s): N/A
Pilots May Contact: Willow Run (YIP) Air Traffic Control Tower,
734-480-9247